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L. Tahoe was beautiful flying over! Remaining snow caps. Read great Newsweek article on Science verifying God. Beautiful high plateaus and cliffs in Colorado. GJT surrounded by coal mines, Co. Nat'l Monument, and Black Mesa. 1 Tri-guy had bike as carry on luggage! (disassembled Zip). Nice guy, Steve, gave me ride to Hotel and town tips. Hilton is nice! overlooking tennis, golf, swimming, and the monument.

It's hot but not as much as Lubbock, but they predict 106 tomorrow. Can't sleep... forgot my seat & post!

Fri: ran 3mi, foot hurts a little. Buffet breakfast. John at Geared sets me up with seat/post loaner! 22mi ride, feels good. Very hot. Dinner w/other racers, Janel, Bob, and Sarah (& parents, Gus/Joanne). slept well.

Sat: swam course with Bob & Sarah. Warm. Ran 3.5mi of course (desert, arid, hot, dry, etc..). Another buffet brkfst. Other racers, David, Paul (Aussie), Heilman, Eric Peterson & Lori Bowden. Long registration. Watched downtown criterium. 15mi ride. Bike feels great! Chinese food (not too sure about that) with the gang. Bed by 10pm

Sun: Race day. Sarah's family gives lift to HighLine Lake at 5am. Dark. Cool. Sunrise. Rt foot a little sore, bike feels good. Air is cool unlike Lubbuck. Good brkfst: 2 oatmeals, cliff bar, Metabol shake, banana, and a power bar with lots of water. Had announced Saturday wetsuits weren't allowed but a new water measurement returns the wetsuit privilege. Race starts late. Lot of waiting. Women first. Good warmup. find perfect starting position. Fill suit with water and go! 1st turn good, a little draft, on my own, and then a good long draft from .6 to 1.1mi. Focussing on sculling, pointing toes, breathing relaxed. Very spent by last 100yds. 14th.

Good T1, rippin on bike. Saw Bob & Sarah. 2000' climb. Horses run 1.5mi alongside, cool surroundings. 20mph ave by turn around. Not enough aid stations. Drank 2 Cytomax, 2 Race Day, and 1 bottle of water. Needed more water. Flying back, HR has been good (b/t 155 and 168), moved up to 5th, battling with the guys, friendly, though, one guy tells me all about what place I'm in. Average 23mph for 56mi. Haven't gotten enough water and pushing too hard, last year's winner did 2:34 bike and I'm finishing with a 2:28! It's really hot now! the 8am start didn't help any.

Good T2. Run feels bad early. Took Aleve, drinking water (aid stations are terrible) but hard to get ice. Wait till 1mi but still something wrong, stomach is upset. 27 yr old "Christian Bustos" look-a-like passes me, hang with him, but he's having trouble and comes back. Way off pace. 7:30 instead of 6:45s. Don't care because starting to realize that it's a losing battle and better concentrate on just finishing now. Focussing on God, having faith, trying to smile and use good form. Pass Gerald in my age group. He's totally cool, telling me all about who I need to catch and that I'm in 4th place. This is weird, no one's in a fighting spirit. Long downhill at mile 5. Taking water and GU but now really sick and sense I may throw up. Down low the air is still and the long 3mi stretch to the turnaround is a furnace. 110 degrees here. I got through 2 bouts of side stitches early on but experiencing no other cramping. Slowing down, Doug, in my age, goes by slowly and doesn't pull away. Couldn't chase if I wanted to. Again, I'm surprised at everyone's slow pace.

Praying to God to keep me from having to pull out or walk back. This would be the first time. I don't know how I got to this point but I have absolutely nothing left. 7mi: I walk the aid station. 8mi: I stop. stretch. stare at the water like I forgot what to do with it. Drink some, pour some on my head, shoulder, face. There's not much. they're dispensing it from little coolers as you wait. I force myself to leave, it's a little downhill and I manage 8min pace to 9mi, stretch, drink, push on to 10mi. guys are behind but not attacking. , 8:15 to 10mi. Mile 11 is my hardest and slowest (8:52) mile, I need something, but what? I pray for strength, drink a full cup of Race Day, and lean into the final hills of the last 2 miles. I hear the footsteps of "Bustos", he finally caught me, but I'm picking it up, no more walking, someone actually says "strong climb!", clock an 8:40, I'm getting happy, last hill, I'm doing 7:30, this is my best effort of the whole run, I see Janel on the toughest section and encourage her up, I'm racing again! Into the finish!

I say a prayer. I'm so amazed how God got me quickly through those dreaded last miles, he picked me up & took me through the worst part, I'm so thankful I just end up crying.

I think I'm all right. I turn down offers to go to the medical tent. This was a mistake because I got very sick quickly. I won't go into details but it was 5 miserable hrs before I could get around all right. I was very dehydrated, probably because of many things; heat, elevation, going too hard on the bike, sports drink concentration. I learned a good lesson.

I wanted so badly to be at the awards and to see how the friends I made did. People were very nice and checked up on me. They told me that my 4:38:49 (26:24 swim, 2:27:0 bike, and 1:44 run) was good enough for 5th place (6th overall) and would have qualified me for Ironman again! Cool! The slots rolled down to 6th. 3 of those ahead of me qualified at Lubbuck. However, my main thoughts are on a more serious strategy for hot races and proper nutritioning.

The Desert Sun Triathlon was not run well. They ran out of water half way through just like the year before. This left many runners in dire need of fluids and required hospitalization for some of them including a friend, Sarah, an experienced triathlete doing her first 1/2 Ironman. She ran through 5 aid stations without water, quit sweating, overheated, had to be driven to the finish, and, arriving at the medical tent, was told they also were out of IVs. She spent the next 2 days in the hospital. All I thought about flying home was all the ways to properly provide water on a course. It's the most important responsibility!! Jim Henderson's races should not be sanctioned any more by USA Triathlon or Hawaii Ironman Qualification process.